Pribble Plaque Unveiling July 1 at Equine Pavilion
On July 1 at noon, a plaque honoring Hopkins County legend Mike Pribble will be unveiled at the Equine Pavilion. Pribble owned the large Pribble Rodeo Arena and hosted an annual July 4th Rodeo. He also performed roping tricks on horseback. KSST’s Enola Gay started the effort to get Pribble recognized.
Dairy Festival Recipe Contest Cancelled
If you were waiting until the last minute to register for the Hopkins County Dairy Festival Recipe contest, you waited too long. Only five individuals entered recipes in the Dairy Recipe contest, so it has been cancelled. This is the second year for cancellation of the contest according to Johana Hicks, with the Texas A & M AgriLife Extension Office. Once again the cancellation was due to the low number of entries. Hicks had hoped the contest would recover this year due to the fact that several had commented on social media their regret that the contest was cancelled last year.
The deadline for submitting the written entry for the 2015 Hopkins County Dairy Festival Recipe contest was Monday, June 15, no later than 5:00 p.m. The event had been set for the afternoon of Saturday, June 20, at Texas A & M AgriLife Extension Office
The contest was cancelled last year due to a low number of entries. Numerous comments were made on social media about how sad it was that the event was cancelled. Hicks thanked everyone who helped promote the event.
Two Structure Fires Keep Fire Departments Busy
Area fire departments were kept busy with a couple of structure fires, one Monday night and one early Tuesday morning. The Sulphur Springs Fire Department asked for assistance from the Hopkins County Fire Department on a house fire in the 1,000 block of North Davis shortly after 9 p.m. Monday. Fire damage was mostly confined to the kitchen of the home.
Later just after 4 a.m. Tuesday, four Hopkins County fire units responded to a house fire on FM 269 South in the county. The vacant home was fully engulfed in flames when units arrived. County Fire Chief Kevin Yates said firefighters got a good stop on the fire but the building was still 95% destroyed. He said cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Sulphur Springs Man Arrested on Controlled Substance Warrants
A 22-year old Sulphur Springs man was arrested at his home by the city and county Special Crimes Unit for outstanding drug warrants at 9:30 p.m. Monday. Tyler Stephen Halerumal was charged with two counts of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance before Justice of the Peace B.J. Teer. Judge Teer set bond at $50,000 for a count involving more than 4 grams but less than 200 grams and $25,000 for a count over 1 gram but under 4 grams.
Chicken Proof Container Garden
If you have chickens or you’re thinking about having a container garden, or you have a container garden and thinking about getting chickens, keep these ideas in mind.
Try to proved other food sources to keep the chickens busy elsewhere. Sprouting cereal grains in a shallow pan is a popular option.
Chicken wire is your best friend. A simple sheet of chicken wire around a small plant will provide a barrier. To give the wire structure, you can use a tomato cage or a couple of stakes. Hardware cloth is a lot sturdier than chicken wire, and can easily be cut and shaped to size. Or you can get serious with bricks and large stones. An aggressive chicken can scratch smaller stones out of the way, but a ring of bricks or larger stones around the base of a plant can help. This method is especially important in newly planted containers, because the chickens love nothing better than to scratch the loose soil out of a pot. Also, you can get plants just for your chickens. Shrubs are a fantastic choice because they provides food and shelter for your chickens.
At my household we came up with our own way to keep our chickens out of our flower pots. We place bamboo skewers throughout the flower pots. It seems to repel the chickens. I wasn’t sure it would work. Our chickens would go up to them and act like they are going to peck the leaves, but when they saw the skewers and they bolted! I’m glad we came up with that idea, or else our pretty flowers would be gone.
Story and Photos by Molly Clegg, HS Intern
Wilder, Hicks, Mabry Top Three in 5K Milk Run
Everett Wilder, 1st, has won 6 out of the last 7 races; Ross Hicks, 2nd, won last year, and Nathan Mabry, 3rd, graduated as a 2015 Senior.
Burglar Receives 15 Year Sentence
Alejandro Mejia-Luna was sentenced to 15 years in the Texas Departmentof Corrections after he plead guilty to seven counts of burglary of a habitation. Mejia-Luna plead guilty before 8th Judicial District Judge Eddie Northcutt.
Mejia-Luna was arrested March 22 of this year when Deputy Richard Brantley apprehended him after observing Luna coming out of a Church Street residence. Officers uncovered a number of items stolen not only from that residence but also from multiple burglaries.
Eleven charges were filed against him at that time. Those charges included burglary of a habitation, theft of a firearm, and theft of items over $1,500. Other charges were eventually filed as Hopkins County Sheriff’s Investigators tied a discovered treasure trove of merchandise from past home burglaries.
Mejia-Luna has a long rap sheet of burglaries dating back to September 3,2014. Prior to that, he had a record of drug related arrests.
Flash Flood Warning Tuesday Through Thursday
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has Issued a Flash Flood watch for portions of North Central Texas, Northeast Texas, and South Central Texas, including the following areas, in North Central Texas: Bell, Bosque, Collin, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Eastland, Ellis, Erath, Falls, Fannin, Freestone, Grayson, Hamilton, Hill, Hood, Hunt, Jack, Johnson, Kaufman, Lampasas, Limestone, Mclennan, Mills, Montague, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Stephens, Tarrant, Wise and Young.
In Northeast Texas: Anderson, Delta, Henderson, Hopkins, Lamar, Leon, Rains, and Van Zandt. in South Central Texas, Milam and Robertson.
The Flash Flood Watch is in begins Tuesday morning and continues through Thursday Evening. Widespread rainfall of 2 to 4 inches with isolated higher amounts is possible.
Thunderstorms Associated with this Tropical System will be efficient rainfall producers. Excessive rainfall will lead to flash flooding and will re-aggravate river flooding.
A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions are favorable for heavy rain which may lead to flash flooding. You should monitor the latest forecasts from the National Weather Service and be prepared to take action should flash flood warnings be issued for your area.
A Tropical System will make landfall on the South Texas coast on Tuesday and move Northward through North and Central Texas by Thursday Evening. Widespread rain and thunderstorms will be capable of producing Flash Flooding and River Flooding.
Dairy Matriarch
by Cindy Roller and KSST’S Enola Gay
Green acres spread so far and wide on one of the oldest family-owned dairy farms in Hopkins County which is over seen by one of the oldest living dairywomen, Wilma White. Just like the many memorable years of operation, White has lived and created a lifetime of tales – literally milking time.
The farm was established in 1935 in Sulphur Springs, Texas, before Interstate 30 had even been built and the dairy business was new to Hopkins County.
Her and her late husband Eldon started life together on meager means and lots of prayer.
“We had to borrow the money for our marriage license,” said the soft-spoken 97 year old Wilma White, who still actively checks the livestock daily. “My dad gave us our first cow.”
She met Eldon White while at a community dance one Saturday night when she was just 13 years old and they married when she was 17.
“While he [her husband Eldon] went and made the rounds (milk route) and I fed the cows, milked the 18 head (of dairy cattle by hand) and took care of our two babies,” said dairy woman Wilma White. “So I’ve been around cows a long time.” They built their current home in 1957.
The dairy business requires dedication – milking twice a day. However the couple has been blessed with children to help in the family business.
“We always had home cooked meals and some of the best pies,” recalled her son Gerald White, who now does the daily milking chore. “I think mom [Wilma] liked milking. It gave her peace.”
His mother agreed. “While I was milking it gave me time to just think,” said White. Her son said his mother was like a “cow-whisperer,” she had special calming skills around the cows his dad often did not understand. She had a “mother’s touch.”
White’s Dairy was one of the first to modernize with milking machines. Their milk is shipped out mainly to the eastern United States. However they haven’t been limited to just dairy cattle, the family raises award-winning horses, through the years pigs, ponies and grown a prosperous garden.
Watching the dairy woman in her environment even her late 90s with her cane in hand the wind in her hair smiling over her new colts it is easy to see this farm is where she was always meant to be.
“I wish I could be out there milking again,” added White, who has no plans on retiring. “I make a pretty good consultant.” Her pride in her family shines through as she sits happily in her kitchen surrounded by trophies and honors earned throughout the years.
Wilma White’s goals for 100 years old: “Living to be old, I guess,” said the dairywoman with a grin.
Queen’s Coronation Pageant Coming Up Saturday June 20th
Lynda Hager and Enola Gay
Enola Gay chatted with Lynda Hager about Dairy Festivals past and present on Monday’s Good Morning Show. Lynda is a 50-year Dairy Festival Board member and has helped in just about every aspect and feature over the years. Her special love is the Pageant, the talent presentations and the contestants themselves. Lynda was Hopkins County dairy royalty before there was a Dairy Festival Queen. As a SSHS sophomore, she was honored to represent Hopkins County in the huge Dairy Sale in Sulphur Springs as that year’s select Dairyman’s Daughter. Lynda says enjoy meeting each young lady as the 2015 court is presented at the Queen’s Coronation Pageant on Saturday June 20 at 6pm in the Hopkins County Civic Center auditorium. Advance tickets are $7 from contestants, and $10 at the door.
